Chinatown Optical Co

I have come here for about 15+ years. They have great customer service. I just stopped by today to get my sunglasses fixed and everyone was so nice and helpful. Even though I’ve moved out of state, I still come here for my contacts and glasses whenever I visit my family.

I stumbled into this place while I was on vacation. I saw a lot of great frames and ended up ordering a pair on the spot. I decided on slick icBerlin frames and they turned the order around in a day! Chloe was awesome. She was polite and very helpful. She was honest with her opinion on how I looked in certain frames, no thoughtless flattery.
I would give the 5 starts but I didn’t get an exam. Their selection and customer service make them outstanding.

My husband and I have been going to Chinatown Optical for the last three years and Chris N. has been so helpful! Every year Chris picks new glasses for us that are both stylish and functional. Chinatown Optical has a great selection of many brands and Chris always finds something that fits our needs. He is also very talented at fitting glasses. This year we also started having our eye examinations with Dr. Lai who was very knowledgeable and thorough. Thank you Chris and Dr. Lai!

Everything is fine except the office information can’t be found in major insurance website
If you’d like use insurance or you are going to use insurance in the future, don’t go to this place. I use VSP insurance but I couldn’t find either Doctor name or doctor’s office in the website.

Visited maybe 10+ stores throughout Midtown, Chelsea, SoHo, and Chinatown and found that this was the best store with customer service and selection. Chloe was extremely patient and found me the perfect pair. Pricing is extremely competitive and staff is very well trained. Thanks, Chloe for the great help. I love my new Walston Oliver Peoples glasses. I highly recommend!
Best,
Charles

Five stars for CHLOE and Dr. Lai!
I’ve been coming to Chinatown Optical since I can remember and Chloe and Dr. Lai have always been there! Through my glasses and contacts Chloe helped me through it all.
When I first got my contacts (15 years ago!!), Chloe was the one that helped me transition and she was so patient with me. Like really patient. It took me about an hour at least to get the dang things into my eyes, but taking them out was another production.
She’s usually the first (and maybe only) person to welcome you when you walk in (I feel like the others just stare which makes me uncomfortable) and I’m relieved when I see her and go straight to her. She’s always helping newbie contact wearers and I tell them that she’s the best person to help you.
Dr. Lai has been my eye doctor all of these years and she’s wonderful too! I love that she also speaks English so I don’t have to feel out of place.
I’m happy that these 2 great people have been a constant here all of these years because without them, Chinatown Optical probably wouldn’t be as great.
There are tons of vision places around and I really think the difference is in the customer service from staff like Dr. Lai and Chloe, who really make the place great! As long as they’re there, I’ll come back here for my vision needs!
Thanks ladies! =)

Been coming here for 5 years for my eye exams and purchase of frames. It’s been affordable while on and off vision insurance. Highly recommend. The doctor is sweet but the lines are long. I reco booking an appt in advance for an exam.

I have been a customer there for almost 20 years. The staff have always been helpful and efficient. All the optometrists are very experienced and always give me the perfect prescription. Thanks Chloe especially for providing me fast, attentive, and friendly service today as usual.

Optometrist is very good and thorough
Issue is the purchase of contacts– when you go in and get eyes tested they make you order the contacts and charge for these in advance of them purchasing from the supplier as you have to go back to ensure there is an appropriate fit before they will order any
In my case the initial fitting didn’t work so I didn’t want to buy them so I wanted a refund on the contact lenses that had not been ordered yet and I got pressured into buying my current contact lenses when I could have gone 2 more months with out spending the money — I just wanted a refund and to purchase in 2 months

My frames broke whilst on holidays googled to find somewhere to repair them. Visited Chinatown Optical and they advise the spring arm had snapped beyond repair. They advised new frames and asked what I wanted or needed to spend, as these frames are sill under warranty in Australia I said as little as possible just something so I could wear them again. They checked through all frames and for a very reasonable sixty dollars found a frame that was very close advising that the lenses would need a slight modification and it would take about an hour. On our return the frames and lens all fitted up and adjusted to fit perfectly. Awesome service highly recommended may not be the cheapest but the best service. Only wish could get this service in Australia

I came here because of the amazing reviews, especially the ones about installing nosepads onto frames. I was wooed by all the accounts of how helpful the people are and how pleasant and professional they are. I was rudely surprised. I came to this store a couple times, first to scout it out, then to ask if my glasses could be fixed with an installation, and finally, when my finals were over and I could go without my glasses for a few days, to get the nosepads done. The first few times, the services was fine. Nothing exceptional, but not questionable either. The last time, I walked in and the manager of the store barked, «Can I help you?» I had wanted to go to the girl I had been talking to; instead, he intercepted me and asked me what I needed. When I told him I would like to get my glasses fixed, he informed me with a cursory glance that it wouldn’t work on my frames. I was shocked, because I’d come before and never had heard that. When I asked him to explain, he proceeded to give me a rambling account about how the installation wouldn’t work.
Look, pal, I’ve seen videos of the installation process on the internet. I know that it’s not the bridge that matters, but the position of the sides of the frames. Instead, when I proceeded to ask him follow-​up questions, he gave me rude ripostes. I asked him if he wanted my business and he responded that he didn’t want me coming back angry with the service. Okay, that’s reasonable, but I’m assuming the risk, and my glasses don’t fit very well as it is. He retorted, «Then why did you buy them?»
I don’t know, mister, because I need to see for school? Because these were the best option with my insurance at the time? I told him if he was concerned that I would be unhappy with the results, he could have me sign a release. He dismissed that with, «No. We don’t do that here.» I felt pushed into a corner by his continual reasons not to send out my glasses to be fixed. I was also insulted when he implied that my glasses were not worth fixing.
Whatever. I’m sure they can be totally professional to most people, just apparently not to me. I’d wanted to take advantage of their good service, and got totally shafted.

The staff is pleasant and informative. They right away looked up my insurance and told me what my coverage entails. Dr. Lai is very pleasant, professional and asked me details as to my eyesight problems. I came in for contacts. Immediately after putting my trial pair on, Dr. Lai checked my vision to make any adjustments necessary and gave me a second trial pair. Loved her attention to detail. I never felt rushed. I was in and out within 35 minutes.

This is my go-​to for my contacts!!! It’s cheaper and easier than going to the eye doctor who’s just going make me drop $$$ to give me an exam and tell me I have the exact same prescription as I’ve had for the last 3 billion years. Nope they just refill the prescription. Woo hoo!

I had just bought some of those hip new plastic frame glasses and decided to wear them to a trip to NY without bringing backup contacts or glasses. Bad idea. The frames kept rubbing against the back of my ears and my nose bridge wasn’t tall enough so the glasses kept slipping off my face.
A google search showed that I could go to an optometrist’s office and ask to buy stick-​on silicone nose pads to fix the slippage issue. I figured an optical shop in Chinatown might have what I’m looking for since they probably deal with similar Asian noses.
On Saturday, I walked in and was immediately greeted by Tommy. I asked him to buy the stick-​on pads and he said they didn’t sell those but he could send out my glasses to get actually wire/​silicone nose pads drilled into my frames. I was hesitant because then I’d be blind but he was able to get me a temporary pair of contacts. Tommy also showed me a pair of glasses that has the same procedure done — they looked perfect. You could never tell the little nose pad arms didn’t come stock. I paid $ 50 for the nose pad «surgery» and left my name and number. Tommy said it was a weekend and their normal turnaround time was 2 days but since I was leaving the next afternoon he said he would either try to rush it or would ship it back to me.
The next day, Tommy called to tell me my glasses were done. They look and feel amazing. They shaved done the plastic nose bridge and buffed it so it doesn’t look like anything was there before. Then drilled the nose pad arms in and adjusted perfectly for my face. No more slipping glasses or ear ache. Tommy gave me a case for the contacts he gave me and a case for my glasses as well. It’s well worth the $ 50 for the service and craftsmanship of the glasses.

Absolutely marvelous! Chloe was so fantastic in helping me find a new pair of glasses. I had misplaced my glasses the night before, and so did not want to over-​spend! She found exactly what I was looking for, checked to see if they had the lenses that fit my exam, sent me off for lunch, and on my return, my glasses were ready!
Really quite remarkable! Highly recommend this place,

I really have nothing but great things to say about my visit here. Sales people were nice and helpful, and the optometrist who did my eye exam was professional and helped me with getting just the right prescription for both my glasses and contacts (I have slight astigmatism in one eye which normally calls for a toric contact lens, but I find toric lenses uncomfortable so she gave me a slightly adjusted prescription for that eye which corrects for the astigmatism without relying on toric lens). And then the sales people helped me select frames that were just right (I love really lightweight frames and they showed me three or four options that were all stylish and almost weightless). Prices are also as good as I’ve found in NY. Will definitely come back.

From another website:
«Some eye care providers tell you that they cannot issue an expiration date of more than one year. This is not true. One year is a minimum, not a maximum. You should discuss your wearing habits and eye health with your eye care provider to determine if you can have a longer prescription length.»
Chinatown Optical deliberately gives 6 month prescriptions in order to get you to order from them continuously. It’s dishonest. Just give me my prescription.
Their opto is good, there business practices are suspect.

I came here because I am due for a routine vision check up. I been here before years ago. I used to go to canal street optical at some point. There isn’t a reason why i choose one place vs the other, its just whoever has the frame i want.
I’ve called ahead and notify them that I am coming and was told that for glasses I can just walk in. When I walk in, there are three other customer there picking out glasses. The staff was very friendly and start register me immediately. My insurance covers vision every 2 years but obviously the cheapest frames. I told the staff that glasses is more as back up for me than anything because I wear contacts. So she was not pushy at all trying to see me any other product that I was not interest in.

When you walk in, no one addresses you and no one asks if you need any help.
I didn’t like their selection of frames here — bleh.

Finally got my cons here today and they were super friendly!
Pros:
–Super friendly staff
–Great optomerist — She’s a graduate of SUNY Optometry! When she did the slit lamp exam I just had to ask her and she is.
–Very detailed instruction on how to take on and off of the cons
–Location — corner of Mott Street = convenient
–Big store with lots of frames although I wasn’t looking for them in particular
Cons:
–They have a lot of staff, I had to wait 15−20min just for the person who was helping me to instruct me how to put on/​off my cons. I wish they were faster because we were in a hurry
Other than that they were great!